Walking the mystical path with practical feet...
First, make a resolution to act once every day in accordance with the positive version of the Golden Rule: "Treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself." This need not be a grand dramatic gesture; it can be a "little, nameless, unremembered" act that may seem insignificant to you. Perhaps you make a point of giving an elderly relative a call, help your wife with the chores, or take time to listen to a colleague who is anxious or depressed. Look for an opportunity to create a "spot of time" in somebody's life, and this awareness will increase as you become more proficient in mindfulness.
Second, resolve each day to fulfill the negative version of the Golden Rule: "Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you." Try to catch yourself before you make that brilliantly wounding remark, asking yourself how you would like to be on the receiving end of such sarcasm--and refrain. Each time you succeed will be an ekstasis, a transcendence of ego.
Third, make an effort once a day to change your thought patterns: if you find yourself indulging in a bout of anger or self-pity, try to channel all that negative energy into a more kindly direction. If you are in a rut of resentment, make an effort to think of something for which you know you should be grateful, even if you do not feel it at the time. If you are hurt by an unpleasant remark, remember that your own anger often issues from pain and that the person who spoke to you so unkindly may also be suffering.
--by Karen Armstrong, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life; and originator of the Charter of Compassion, signed in Nov. 2009, by thousands of religious and secular leaders.
Practice